Emerging Healthcare Technology for 2016

​With
a new year comes emerging technology in the healthcare field. However, these new technological developments
can have disadvantages. The Economic
Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) releases an annual list of emerging
technologies. Many of the advances
chosen by the Institute this year have a basis in “value-based care.”

With
the increased of the use of telemedicine by patients, wireless wearable sensors
have been developed to aid those patients that use wellness apps and devices. Many of the patients wearing these sensors
participate in home health care but use telemedicine to communicate with a
physician. These lightweight sensors do
not consume much energy, “which allows for inexpensive and unobtrusive monitoring
during daily activities at home.” One issue with this technological development
is the fact that doctors may be required to learn how to navigate the app and
interpret the data collected by the wireless sensors. If the wireless sensor were to malfunction, a
physician could misinterpret the patient’s results.

Another
recent development in healthcare technology is the miniature leadless
pacemaker. These pacemakers are designed
for only one heart chamber and are 10% this size of previous pacemakers. The goal with the
new pacemaker design was to reduce complications that occur in 1 of 8 people with a conventional pacemaker, and these complications are
frequently related to the leads. Those
that received the leadless pacemakers had a lower risk of complications, even
though they were “more likely to have hypertension, atrial fibrillation,
valvular disease, CAD, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.” Even though this new product is more effective
than previous pacemaker models, they are only ideal for 15% patients that
require a pacemaker, thus limiting the impact of the new technology.

Health Partners New England will use an electronic health
record system in its behavioral health treatment center.
Although electronic health records (EHRs)
have been adopted by most hospitals, they are primarily used for physical
medical care. The CEO and Health Partners New England founder,
Michael P. Krupa, stated, “We believe EHRs enable just as much improvement in
behavioral health as they do in acute medical care.” There will be a company to troubleshoot
issues, a remote service desk, and application software support to aid in the
implementation of this system for HPNE.

Kate
Reynolds is currently a 2L at DePaul University College of Law. Ms. Reynolds
completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Illinois Springfield.
Ms. Reynolds wishes to pursue a career in Health Law after graduating in May of
2017.​